1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved data processing system and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for multicomputer data transferring. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for user support with system access control and computer-to-computer authentication.
2. Description of Related Art
Software applications typically offer a basic level of support through a built-in help package that provides answers to simple usage problems. These help packages have provided fundamental guidance for users of the software application when a user accesses an application's help features. For example, there is a standard help button in some window frames within Microsoft Windows® applications; in these instances, the help button provides assistance on the data/function that is contained in its window with the data itself being stored in a file. The user is then able to maneuver through this file to get useful help information.
In some cases, it is not possible to resolve a problem through a help file. When an application user encounters a complex problem, the user is often referred to a user assistance center. Typically, a help desk agent within the user's organization attempts to find a solution to the user's problem through a knowledge base containing solutions for such problems.
Applications are growing in complexity due to their increased functional capability. Enterprises generally desire to provide authorized users with secure access to Web-based applications in a user-friendly manner throughout a variety of networks, including the Internet. Hence, a help desk agent may not be able to resolve complex problems with Web-based applications even though the help desk agent has a knowledge base application for assistance.
Some user assistance centers have applications that allow a help desk agent to remotely view what occurs on a user's desktop, thereby allowing the help desk agent to directly view a problem as it occurs on a user's machine. Other applications allow a help desk agent to remotely control a user's desktop, thereby allowing the help desk agent to directly attempt to recreate a problem on a user's machine. While these solutions have some advantages, it would often be more advantageous for a help desk agent at a user assistance center or some other type of administrative user to be able to interact with a Web-based application as if the administrative user was the user who required assistance, thereby “impersonating” the user with respect to the Web-based application.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and a system in which an administrative user could assume the programmatic identity of another user in order to interact with a Web-based application without the need for knowing any authentication information other than the other user's user identifier.